


Avoiding Christmas

by Yulliah



Category: Twilight (Movies), Twilight Series - All Media Types, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Christmas, M/M, One Shot, Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-08
Updated: 2012-08-08
Packaged: 2017-11-11 17:46:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/481184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yulliah/pseuds/Yulliah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Edward hates everything Christmas vehemently. Actually, he hates every holiday, but this one is especially hard to avoid. It doesn't really help that Christmas decorations and complete strangers invaded his December hideout this year. This might just prove to be the worst Christmas ever, or will it?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Avoiding Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> I am honored that this story won first place in the SWW Christmas In My Hometown Contest! Thank you so so much! 
> 
> My thanks goes out as well to my AWESOME prereader KGQ and the amazing Deßra who betaed this story for me!
> 
> SWW Christmas In My Hometown Competition.  
> Title: Avoiding Christmas  
> Penname: YulliahPairing: Edward/Jasper  
> Rating: NC-17  
> Word Count: 7815  
> Summary: Edward hates everything Christmas vehemently. Actually, he hates every holiday, but this one is especially hard to avoid. It doesn't really help that Christmas decorations and complete strangers invaded his December hideout this year. This might just prove to be the worst Christmas ever, or will it?  
> Disclaimer: I really REALLY don't own Twilight.

  


  


**Christmas Eve 2010**

_Oh come on!_ I thought as I walked into Extase. This was my one place to go to, every single year. The one place where I could avoid all of it. The one place in this entire God forsaken, Pagan town, where you could enjoy a beer in quiet solitude during these three days of hell, and the weeks leading up to it.

I sat down at the bar, turning my back to the colorfully lit up atrocity in the corner. I groaned loudly at James' weakness. I knew exactly who was to blame for this. I knew exactly how this denotation of fraudulent joy and celebration came to spoil my December sanctuary.

"What's up, Ed? What's got you moaning and groaning on this fine winter's day? Anyone under there I don't know about?" James asked as he reached for my favorite poison.

I threw him a hard stare.

He poured me a glass of Glenmorangie and sat it down in front of me. "Geeze! What's gotten your boxers in a twist?" he asked, screwing the lid back on, but leaving it within reach.

I shook my head. He knew full well what it was. We'd been through this year after year, for about six years now, though both for very different reasons. James had been the ever single guy, hopeless romantic and holiday-depressed one. I was -and still am- the 'Cold-hearted bastard who refuses to love their loved ones, the ultimate Scrooge', according to him; while, in fact, I detested the way holidays required people to be kind and loving in the first place. Hell, I love my loved ones, and I damned well show them I do. It's just that I do it every _other_ day of the year.

I wasn't sitting at some fancy schmancy dinner table, laughing at my deadbeat father and kissing my mother's frozen cheek. Besides that, the commercialism that took over every single holiday had the bile rising in my throat. Happy, peppy Santas all over the place, in every fucking direction you looked. Since people started to hand out presents at Christmas as well, I was done with it.

I used to love St. Nicholas as a kid. I'd stand in the street with the other kids, waiting anxiously for the parade of Black Peter and St. Nicholas on his white horse Amerigo to pass, getting candy thrown at me and wishing I'd get the presents I'd asked for. Coming down the stairs December 6th, I'd eye the beautifully wrapped gifts in the fireplace. That was now ruined. Kids rarely celebrated St. Nicholas anymore. It was Santa this and Santa that. _Stupid fat man with his annoying little dwarfs._ Oh, excuse me, elves!

Happiness was the other reason I hated Christmas with a vengeance. During the second half of December, you weren't allowed to even look remotely depressed. _"Why so sad? It's Christmas!"_ Well fuck Christmas! I wasn't having it!

I pointed my thumb over my shoulder at the monstrous tree behind me and furrowed my brow. "Why, James?" I grumbled. "How could you? How could you desert your brother in arms?"

James chuckled and shrugged. "You know Victoria; she's got me whipped, man!"

"I need a piss. Please tell me that is the only decoration in this place?" I demanded with a hopeful look.

He raised his hands up in defense. "It is! Don't worry! It really is!" he said.

As I walked to the hallway between the dance floor and the bar, where the toilets were, James turned up the volume of the music that was playing. "Fucker! Turn that off!" I yelled over my shoulder when the heavy metal version of 'White Christmas' droned through the speakers. James responded with an outburst of laughter, and I gritted my teeth. I'd repay the fucker, I swore I would!

When I got back to the bar, a guy was sitting on the stool next to the one I'd been sitting on. He was leaning heavily on the surface, clutching a bottle of Jupiler like it was his only hope. Adding circumstances in my head, I came to a few possible solutions. I sighed as I sat down next to him, and raised my glass to my mouth. I finished the drink in one go, slamming the glass back on the counter. Before I could even ask James for a refill, he was pouring the golden liquid over a handful of ice cubes.

I took another gulp before I turned to the guy next to me. He had dark, curly hair that just reached his sharp cheekbones. His body was lean, but muscular. The way his biceps flexed under the rolled up sleeves of his dress shirt had me wondering if he was strong as well. He wasn't dressed for a place like this. Fuck, this wasn't a heavy metal bar or anything, but the usual customers had at least a couple of piercings, and the place was a gallery of the best tattoos in town.

How on earth a preppy fraternity guy like him wound up in a bar like this was beyond me. He was probably one of those 'Olof' guys that studied at the local university. He certainly looked young enough, and the hairdo was a dead giveaway.

"So, broke up with your girlfriend? A fight with the parents?" I asked, and his eyes shot up to meet mine in confusion. Bright blue eyes, though they were missing the light that would make them shine.

"Huh?" he voiced in reply. _Great, stuck at the bar with a 'very' loquacious frat boy. How the joys of the world keep multiplying._

"The thing that happened to make you look like you want to drown yourself in beer," I clarified. I didn't know why I was even talking to the guy. Other than the fact that he was kind of hot, the chance of him even being interested was slight to none. And _I_ wasn't even interested. Frat boys were not part of my repertoire.

Hell, guys from around here weren't even in my repertoire. Tilburg was a queen's town. There were three gay bars, one of which was primarily for lesbians, and two were centered around the gay men that embraced their 'flame'. The bar we were at now was not one of them. Just to be clear, I had nothing against flamboyant guys, I just wasn't attracted to them.

No, every other week, I would drive to a city like Rotterdam or Utrecht and visit a club there. The chance of meeting a great guy around here was small. The great thing about an open society was that we didn't get harassed or beaten up for being gay. The bad thing was, that because it was hardly ever an issue, the topic of sexuality didn't come up much in conversation. And it wasn't really a problem, unless you wanted to fuck a guy five ways till Sunday.

The guy next to me scowled at me for a second before he turned back to his beer. I wouldn't have even noticed the soft "Nope" if I hadn't seen his mouth move as he said it.

I turned back to my whiskey as well, and muttered an annoyed; "Well excuuuuse me."

A new song started, and I immediately recognized Radiohead's version of 'Winter Wonderland'.

"Oh, for fuck's sake!" I yelled, and got up from my stool. I got behind the bar and made my way to the stereo installation. James thought I was about to pound on him, standing between me and the source of the wretched holiday music. He backed up a couple of paces, but made no attempt to stop me.

I pulled 'Angel Dust' by Faith No More from the shelf and slid the CD into the player. I quickly skipped to the 4th track and turned the volume up. Closing my eyes for a second, enjoying the smooth intro, I heard someone chuckle.

I took a look over my shoulder and saw frat boy move to the music, tapping his finger against the polished wood of the bar with his eyes closed. _Well, what do you know? Frat boy knows his music! Maybe he did come to the right place!_

I got back to my stool in amusement, and made sure to brush my elbow against his arm as I sat down. I was watching James clean the counter behind the bar when I felt the boy's eyes on me. I glanced back at him from the corner of my eye and noticed a slight smile on his lips.

"Thanks for that," he said. His Dutch seemed very good, but the roundness of his vowels gave away his foreign origin. _Fuck me! Exchange student frat boy!_ "If I hear one more Christmas song, I'm going to scream!" Homesickness, that must be it. He probably had a family somewhere, celebrating the season without him. From the sound of it, I could swear America.

"American?" I asked, just to be sure.

He cocked an eyebrow, and I was sure he wasn't going to answer me. "Yes, actually," he said, smiling. He had sexy fucking dimples, and my body was already starting to show interest.

"What brought you to our cold and wet little country?" The legal drinking age?" I mocked him. There was no way I was going to allow myself to start lusting over some twenty-year-old straight guy. Offense was the best defense.

He chuckled and played with the label on his beer bottle. "No, not the legal drinking age. I've lived here for a while now, since my parents moved here when I was eleven."

I shrugged, feigning disinterest, and took another swig of whiskey. "James!" I called, making my friend turn around. "We _are_ still going to the anti-Christmas party at 013, right?" Anti-Christmas was a heavy metal night on the second day of Christmas, perfect for people like me, previously _us_.

James looked back at me, apology written in his eyes. _No! Fuck no! You can't bail on me, man!_

"I'm sorry, Ed, I have to go to Christmas dinner with Victoria's parents."

_Well, fuck me._

"You don't like Christmas?" frat boy asked in a surprised tone. I just glared at him, not answering. "I mean, this year it has no worth for me, but normally-" He sighed and took a gulp of beer. "I love it, the whole celebration of the birth of Christ thing. I'm not Christian, but I kind of like the magic of it."

I huffed and shook my head. "You know that Christ wasn't even born in December, right?" The guy furrowed his brow, and was ready to retort, but I caught him off. "In Luke 2:8, it says that at the time Christ was born, shepherds were abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night."

The boy raised his eyebrow in question, so I went on. He clearly didn't see the problem in that. "Well, this couldn't have happened in December in Judaea. Shepherds always brought their flocks from the mountains and fields and confined them before the middle of October. It would be too cold and wet after that to leave them out."

I took another mouthful of whiskey and went on. "Around the time we celebrate Christmas, the Pagans used to celebrate the shortest day of the year and the coming of the 'new sun'. The whole adaptation of Christmas was no more than a way of the Christians to say, _'If you can't beat them, join them!'_ Nothing magical about that!"

"Aren't you the skeptic!" frat boy said. He was tracing his eyes down my body, and the way his eyes seemed to measure me out made me feel naked under his gaze. I could clearly feel my dick twitch in my jeans when his tongue came out and skidded over his bottom lip, followed by a set of white teeth. He bit his lip a while longer until he let go, making the taut white flesh return to its original pink color.

I managed to stop the groan rising in my chest, but had to look away in order to get my mind to abandon the lust-filled fantasies it was coming up with. Particularly the ones that starred those lips wrapped around my cock.

I cleared my throat before addressing him again. "If you want to call it skeptical, go right ahead. I prefer realistic, or practical."

James chuckled, and reached out to hit the back of my head. I pulled away in time, making him only hit the air between us. "Don't sweat it, Jasper. Ed here is the most skeptical person I've ever met. But he's a good guy, _most_ of the time."

What the fuck was that supposed to mean? Most of the time. What the hell was he implying? I threw him a hard stare, and only then realized that James called the guy 'Jasper', like he knew him. I looked at him questioningly, and he mouthed something in answer. I thought he said 'Aro's ex', but I must have been mistaken. Aro was the 37-year-old owner of the strip joint around the corner. I heard he recently got divorced his ex, because the other guy found out he had a thing for 'young boys', and that was the reason for his solo trips to Thailand each year.

This actually surprised me. Well, not the trips to Thailand, I mean, no one condoned the guy's preference, and I certainly went out of my way to avoid the fucker. No, what surprised me, was that his ex hadn't known about it. Seriously, this was the worst kept secret in Tilburg. _Everyone_ knew.

But as far as my information went, Aro's ex-husband was in his early thirties, and this guy was still wet behind his ears.

"Well, James, it shouldn't surprise me to find an atheist in this place. It isn't really inviting to nice churchgoing Catholics, now is it?" Jasper said as he winked at me.

"Hey!" I cried out. "I'm not atheistic, I'm agnostic. There's a difference!"

"Sure, sure!" Jasper answered, making me scowl again. "It all amounts to the same thing. You don't believe in God."

"I don't believe that the existence of a God can't be proven, but neither can the non-existence," I explained. "If there _is_ a God, or any other supernatural entity, I choose not to lay my trust in him or her."

"Well, I don't believe there's a God, but I still enjoy the Christian holidays," Jasper said, turning back to his beer.

"Then you, my friend, are the atheist," I said. "And a hypocrite."

I turned to James, who was rummaging through a stack of CDs. "Hey, put some Placebo on, will ya?" I called out to him. He looked up at me with a smirk, the CD already in his hand. "Great minds," I laughed, and finished the second glass of whiskey of the day. When I placed it back on the bar, James gestured me to fill it up myself, and I reached for the bottle.

"A hypocrite, eh?" Jasper asked, a gleam sparkling in his eyes. He was clearly amused by my earlier statement. _Fucking frat boy can't take a hint._

"Look, kid. Don't you have some curfew or something?" I asked, annoyed. Really, all I wanted tonight was ignore the happy holiday spirit and have a few laughs with my best friend. A raging hard on and the frustrating wank I'd need afterwards were not part of that plan.

Jasper started laughing. Tears sprang from his eyes and he almost toppled off his stool as he doubled up. "Kid?" he asked between breaths. "God, that's so funny! Mostly because I would think that _I'm_ the one that has a few years on _you_!"

I frowned, and leaned my elbow against the bar as I turned towards him. "Just for argument's sake, how old _are_ you?" I asked. I threw him another scrutinizing once over, and was met by a glorified smirk when I reached his face again.

"I'm 31," he said. "You?"

"Thirty-one, my ass," I replied. I could give him 25, maybe, but the fucker was in no way older than me.

"I take it you haven't reached the magnificent thirties yet?" he asked.

I grunted, still unbelieving of his stated age.

"Ed here just turned twenty-eight," James answered him, and smiled evilly at me. "Thinks he's all mature now."

"Fuck you!" I grumbled, and once again raised the glass to my lips.

"No thanks, I'm more of a fucker than a fuckee. Besides, I don't think Vicky would appreciate extracurricular activities."

"Oh, ha ha!" I said sarcastically. There's no way on earth I'd ever fuck that hairy little ass of his. Not my type! Jasper, however, was quickly turning into my type. And if he really was older than he looked, I was certainly interested in finding out if the feeling was mutual.

"No, but really," I said, facing him. "How old are you?"

"No, but really, I'm thirty-one," he answered cockily.

"Fine!" I snapped at him. "If you're not going to tell me, that's just fine."

"Edward, stop acting like a stupid brat! The guy is telling the truth, he's thirty-one. Need him to show you his passport?" James said in his little 'Edward is being an ass' tone. "So, Jasper, have you found a place to live yet? Vicky's sister is trying to sell her house, and it's a really nice place.

"Can you mail me the details? I'm still in the apartment, as Aro is-" he stopped short and shivered visibly.

He _was_ Aro's ex, so gay, right? And we all know where Aro was right now, and what the fuck he was doing. Shit! That must be one shitty way to spend Christmas for Jasper. But if he'd let me, I could sure make it a pleasurable experience. I grinned at the thought and gave my slashy mind full rein again.

I was just about to offer him a drink and turn my charm on him when he stood up and put a five Euro note on the bar. "Well, it was nice meeting you, Edward," he said, and winked. Then he turned to my friend. "Thanks for the hospitality, James. I'm gonna head off and turn in early."

 _Leave? No! What?_ "You sure you don't want to stick around for another beer? Or some more company?" I asked. I tried to lay the suggestion on strong and let my eyes wander over his body again.

He swallowed hard and shook his head. "As much as I would love to lose myself in some company, I don't think that would be a good idea for me right now." He turned around and walked out the door before I could respond.

"Seriously, Edward?" James snapped as soon as the door closed and I got up to follow Jasper. I gave him my best innocent 'What?' look, but he didn't buy it. "His fucking divorce was just finalized, and Aro is doing _exactly_ what it is that broke them up. But you don't give a shit! You just want to bury yourself up his ass so deep that you'll forget your miserable life for a couple of seconds! No! There's no way I'm going to let you! So sit the fuck down and leave! Jasper! Alone!

I scowled at him, but did what he told me anyway. I knew he was right; I wasn't remotely interested in having a relationship. Especially not with a guy that still had feelings for someone else. The drama of being the rebound was not my thing, so instead of following Jasper and trying to persuade him to change his mind, I started drinking myself into a stupor. _Fuck Christmas!_

**Christmas Eve 2011**

I rummaged through my closet, trying to find anything that didn't remind me of that fucktard. Fucking Riley! Seriously, I didn't know why I ever fell for that crap! I wasn't really sad that my nine-month relationship had finally hit the rocks, but I _was_ pissed off that I had to catch him cheating in my house. _My_ house, for fuck's sake. I come home from the worst night at the hospital _ever,_ and I find him sprawled over the kitchen table, some stupid twink pounding him like a lunatic. Bareback!

That's not even what pissed me off the most. The fucking idiot! I knew it was a bad idea to have sex with him without a condom the first time he brought it up. I was so fucking happy I had refused him on that.

Trying to force all thoughts of Riley to the back of my mind, I pulled a black long sleeved T-shirt over my head and smiled. This was actually the same shirt I'd worn the year before. At the same place I was going to be tonight, Extase. This year, however, would be totally different. It would be James, me, Victoria, Seth and his wife Leah. We would have a few drinks, a nice dinner and a lot of fun. The bar would be closed for the evening, though no one ever came in on Christmas Eve anyway.

I wasn't entirely happy with our friends turning up for our holiday-free evening, but James assured me it wasn't a Christmas dinner. We'd have fun if we felt like it, no strings attached. I thought it was a crock of shit, and thought about just staying home, but for some reason he really wanted me to be there.

I couldn't help myself from wandering back to last year and Jasper. Fuck! I thought he was attractive back then, but over the last couple of months, I think I actually fell for him. The first time I had seen him after that night was at James and Victoria's wedding.

_He'd been tanned all over, and looked like a California surfer boy. I had just started getting serious with Riley, and didn't think it appropriate to go and talk to him._

_He'd come to find me when I was at the bar though, and we had a really good conversation about the value of marriage. For some reason, we really clicked, even though we had such different views on life in general. When I asked why he hadn't been back to Extase, he told me he had gone to Australia for a year, and only came back for the wedding._

_That's when Riley came back from the buffet and threw his arm around my waist, introducing himself. I could see Jasper's face fall, and it really bothered me. Though at the time I didn't realise why._

_The second time was at Extase. I was on the dance floor, dancing with my friend Bella, when a pair of hands grabbed my hips. This wouldn't be the first time that someone got up close and personal, but it was the first time the hands belonged to a guy. Well, apart from Riley's hands, but these were definitely not his._

_When I turned around, a pair of smirking blue eyes looked back at me and he winked. "Did ya miss me?" he asked, trailing his gaze down my body and back up again. I was kind of shocked to see him, as he was supposed to be on the other side of the world, but he burst out into a fit of laughter at the sight of my gawking face, and I couldn't help but join him._

_We spent the night talking at the bar, while James threw me questioning glances every now and then. I ignored it. Yes, I was still with Riley -telling Jasper that had made his face fall again- but this guy had a pull on me that I couldn't deny. It was after that night that I realised that I really liked him, and wasn't just attracted to him._

_The third and last time I saw him was on my birthday. He just showed up at the surprise party James threw me. I don't know why my best friend even bothered, because I never cared for celebrating my birthday. I was sure he just wanted to throw a party, and used this as a reason to do so._

_Riley was once again drunk to a point where it was embarrassing, when the door opened and Jasper hesitantly walked in. It was like the hairs on the back of my neck rose in anxious anticipation, though I was fairly sure it was just the cold draft from outside._

_He came right up to me and handed me a present. No one at the party had given me a present, seeing they all knew how much I hated forced tokens of appreciation, so for a moment I just glared at him._

" _I know you don't like birthday presents, but this isn't really one. I got you this a couple of months back, the birthday is just a ruse. I didn't think it appropriate for a guy to give a practical stranger a random gift," he said quietly and quickly. I narrowed my eyes at him for a second, not quite certain what to make of this, but decided to think about that later and just open the gift._

_Inside was a leather necklace that held a round piece of tourmaline, encasing a smaller core of sodalite. Well, that was what it said on the adjoining card. They were the brightest shades of green and blue I had ever seen. The rich blue actually reminded me of Jasper's eyes._

" _I don't know, it's lame, but the green reminded me of your eyes," he said, and I raised my head to look at him. I took a step towards him and flung my arms around his shoulders, pulling him into a tight hug. This was the only way I could keep the tears from my eyes._

" _It's not lame, it's perfect," I whispered in his ear. "Thank you."_

_When I pulled away and he smiled broadly at me, like I had given 'him' a present, I knew I had fallen for him._

As I watched myself in the mirror, I noticed I had been touching the stones around my neck. Riley hadn't liked me wearing the necklace, and me being the good boyfriend, I hadn't. But since we'd broken up, it had been around my neck 24/7. I know, I know, it was mushy and wildly uncharacteristic, but with it, I felt closer to him somehow.

With a sigh, I concluded I was ready for the not-a-Christmas-party, and headed for the door, grabbing my keys from the kitchen counter. I took my bike from the shed and cycled the short distance to the bar. When I chained my bike to a lamppost, music was already escaping outside and through the windows I could see Leah rubbing her hands over Victoria's very pregnant belly. It made me smile and think about my own wishes to someday have a family of my own. James was a damned lucky man.

I opened the door and smiled. Victoria and Leah immediately pulled me into a warm hug, and James slapped my back as I shook Seth's hand. "Sit! Sit!" James yelled. "We're all here, and the starters won't eat themselves!"

I threw my jacket over a chair in the corner and sat down at the same time everyone else did. Wait! "James?" I asked. He looked up at me with a fake innocent smile. "Why is the table set for six?"

"Oh, didn't I tell you?" he replied. The smirk dominating his face told me he clearly knew he didn't. "Jasper is back from Australia, and he didn't have anywhere to go for Chr-"

Victoria elbowed him forcibly in his ribs, and the word I knew he was going to say disappeared in a huff of breath. He coughed and grabbed his side before turning back to me. "Jasper didn't have anywhere to go on this fine, normal, totally not special Saturday evening."

"So, where is he?" I asked in a casual tone that was contradicting the fluttery excitement I felt in my heart.

"Adding the finishing touches to our dinner, obviously," he answered. This had me confused, why on earth would he be in the kitchen at James' party? My friend sighed and shook his head. "Really, Edward, you don't even know the man's a chef?"

His comment made me blush. For all the hours Jasper and I had spent talking, the futile details of our careers had never once been a topic. I didn't think that he knew I was a doctor either.

"You know what? Why don't you go and give him a hand!" James suggested, and I narrowed my eyes at him. He was being so overly obvious that I couldn't ignore his meddling. Still, I got up and made my way to the kitchen. In truth, I was grateful for his meddling, and couldn't really wait to see that dimpled smile.

He was bent over the counter, seemingly concentrating on some plates as I walked in. I didn't interrupt him, mostly because the sight of his jean-clad ass took my breath away.

"So, who's the hypocrite now?" he asked as he straightened and turned towards me. I wondered if he even knew it was me in the first place.

"Huh?" I replied.

"You called me a hypocrite for enjoying Christian holidays, but here you are, the fervent hater of all things Christmas, at a Christmas dinner," he said with an amused sparkle in his eyes.

"This isn't a Christmas dinner," I grumbled, surprised he even remembered that conversation.

"Sure it is!" he replied. "We even started an hour early to exchange gifts!"

I opened my mouth in shock. Really? No! They didn't, they wouldn't, right?

"You didn't!" I gasped, and Jasper chuckled.

"No, we didn't, but it was priceless to see your face when I said that," he joked, and turned back around to the counter.

"I'll get you for that!" I said, scowling at his back.

"Will you now?" he asked in a light tone, but then his voice turned dark and a little husky. "Is that a promise, Edward?"

The sound and his words went straight to my already semi-hard cock, and I decided that very moment that I would do anything to get this man. Anything short of celebrating Christmas, that is! I took the five steps needed to reach him, and spun him around. With a barely audible 'Sorry', I cupped his face and crashed my lips to his.

He was rigid for a moment, but within seconds, I could feel him melt against me, and a drowned moan echoed through the kitchen. I grabbed his shoulders tighter and flicked my tongue over his lips, silently asking him to deepen the kiss.

He did, and as his taste registered in my brain, I bucked my hips against his in a frantic need to feel him even closer. His hands reached for my ass and grabbed onto my cheeks with lustful force. I forgot everything around me but him, our kiss and the burning smell that was now permeating my nose.

_Wait! Burning smell?_

I opened my eyes and pulled away from him just fast enough to see the last of the dish towel go up in flames. I stood, a bit shocked at that, but Jasper was fast on his feet, turning off the burning pit and stamping the smoldering flakes on the floor.

He looked up at me and grinned. "Well, that kiss was certainly highly flammable," he chuckled. "Now let's get these starters out, and I promise you can give me a hand with the main course later." I smirked and smacked his ass as he passed me with three plates balanced in his hands.

Four pairs of eyes watched us closely as we served the goose terrine and sat down. It tasted exquisite, and I moaned as the soft paté melted on my tongue. The man could cook! All the while I was glancing at him, trying to do it from the corner of my eye so it wouldn't be too obvious. I was horribly failing, because each time I looked at James, he smirked at me with a knowing glint in his eyes.

Once we were all finished, and Jasper had stacked the plates, Leah stood up. "I'll help you with that, Jasper," she said. Seth touched her arm, slightly shaking his head, but she wasn't having it. "What?" she asked her husband. "We can't have Jasper do all the work!"

I quickly got up from my seat and took the remaining two plates. "I'll do it," I said, a little too enthusiastically, and all my friends chuckled. I tried staring them down, but their happy smiles made it really hard to scold them. Instead I rushed after Jasper, who was already near the kitchen door.

As soon as I sat the plates down in the sink, he was on me. "Jesus, Edward! Did you _have_ to moan like that?" he growled in my ear before he bit my lobe. The moan at the table was nothing compared to the one I let out now, and I could feel myself getting harder by the second.

"Fuck!" Jasper exclaimed, and palmed my cock. It felt so fucking good, and I involuntarily bucked up against his hand. When his other hand opened the button on my jeans and disappeared under my waistband, I stopped him. His eyes stood confused and slightly hurt when he looked up at me, but for all that I wanted to happen right now, it shouldn't.

"Jazz, I really want you, you can feel that I do," I said as I pushed my groin back against his hand. "But I want so much more with you than a quick fuck, and I don't think that we should rush this if you want the same." I slightly pulled back as I felt the truth of my explanation enforce the strength of my decision.

"Rush?" Jasper asked me incredulously. "I don't know about you, but I've been holding back for an entire year!" His frustrated statement was loud, and I quickly eyed the door, hoping my friends wouldn't hear us and check in.

"Edward, I want the same, I want to date and see if we could even be remotely as great as we are in my imagination. But trust me, there's nothing rushed about this," he said and reached out the hand I wasn't holding, pulling down my zipper. He teased the head of my cock through my boxers, making me whimper at his touch.

Who was I even kidding? Like I was in any mind to stop this now he was so skillfully persuading me. I let go of his wrist to grab his hips and pull him closer. Damn, it felt good to have him touch me, to have him flush against me, to smell him, to have him moaning in my ear.

He kissed his way over my jaw and down my throat, making sure to suck the skin in the crook of my neck. I loved it, I loved him marking me. As my hands reached for the hem of his shirt, he pushed down my jeans and boxers. I needed to feel more of him, not caring about where or when. In this lustful haze, there was just him and me.

He grabbed my ass with one hand and my thigh with the other, and before I knew it, I was sitting on top of the kitchen counter. His eyes met mine, and I could see the fire of my own need reflected in his dilated pupils. With a forceful but short kiss, he lowered his head and pushed me backwards with his hand on my chest.

I leaned back and watched intently as his lush lips parted, and his tongue slipped out to lick my entire length. I groaned and reached to grab hold of something. My hands just found scattered pots and pans, and some fell to the floor in loud bangs. I seriously didn't care, especially when he grabbed hold of my cock and let his mouth inch down on it in a torturously slow move.

"Fuck!" I cried out. The sensations of his hot mouth on me was too much. Leaning heavily on one arm, I grabbed a handful of his hair with my free hand. I really tried to keep it still, as well as my hips, but the more he sucked and licked, the more I lost control over my body.

I felt the back of his throat constrict around the sensitive head of my dick, and it was all it took for my balls to tighten and the vastly built pressure to release itself. Without warning, I came deep inside his mouth. Pulse after pulse releasing shivers up my spine, my toes curled and my body convulsed as I rode out my orgasm.

When I was entirely spent and Jasper had milked the last drops of cum from me, he let go and stood up. I pulled him into a searing kiss, that quickly changed from a thank you to a promise. I pushed him back slightly, got off the counter and backed him up against the wall.

His cock was rock hard when I palmed it through his jeans, so I made quick work of the button and zipper. Pulling his jeans and briefs down, I licked my lips. His was the most gorgeous cock I'd ever seen, and a pearly white drop of pre-cum was already leaking from the swollen head. With my tongue, I lapped it up and let it spread in my mouth, tasting him.

Looking up into his blue eyes I took his length and wrapped my lips around it. I wanted to make him cum hard, like I had, and I had no intention of making this quick, so I let him go with a pop and licked a wet trail down to his balls. One by one, I took them into my mouth and gently sucked on them. I wetted my fingers and slid them between his cheeks as I ran my mouth back up to his thick, hard cock.

As soon as I pressed one slicked up finger into his tight hot ass, he took hold of one of the metal racks filled with kitchen supplies. The strength with which he grabbed it had the contents spilling over the floor with a loud clatter. He opened his eyes in shock, but his moans as I started to move my finger let me know he was beyond caring as well. With one hand on the rack and the other one reaching out to my hair, he threw his head back and gasped, as I took him into my mouth down to the base and swallowed.

"Jesus! Fuck!" I heard from behind me, and I immediately let go of Jasper and turned around. I tried to hide his exposed cock from James' scrutinizing stare, only to realize that my own jeans were still around my knees.

My cheeks flushed furiously as I quickly pulled them up, and I could hear Jasper doing the same behind me. "Uhm, yeah, sorry," I muttered at my best friend, who gave us a moment of privacy by turning around.

"Fuck your sorry! Edward, what were you thinking?" he yelled, though I had to chuckle when he added; "Are you decent now? I can't shout at you when I can't see your face!" in a much less angry tone.

"Yeah, you can turn around," Jasper said humorously.

James' face was distorted in anger when he turned back to face me. "You!" he yelled while pointing at me. "I told you to fucking leave him alone if this is all you were interested in! Here I thought that with you having an actual relationship last year that you've changed! But no, first chance you get alone with him you jump him like a fucking dog in heat!"

I glared at him angrily and opened my mouth to reply, but Jasper was faster. "James, you need to back off, man," he said, and moved in front of me. "It was actually me who did the jumping, and Edward telling me we shouldn't rush, and that he wanted more than a quick fuck. So don't go jumping to any conclusions."

James stared at us in turn, his eyes wide and unbelieving. And then he started laughing, almost doubling over while clutching his stomach.

"What the fuck is so funny?" I asked.

"Y-you... a-are!" he replied between breaths. "Fuck, Edward! Next thing, you'll be handing out Christmas presents!"

"Don't count on it," I grumbled.

"All right," James said, ignoring my comment. "Glad we got that sorted. Now, can I count on you finishing up dinner without any funny business?"

Jasper and I nodded, and I could see a faint blush covering his cheeks. It was adorable, and made him look even younger than he already did.

James left the kitchen with a warning glare in my direction, and I quickly made my way to the stove. Together we finished up and brought the main course to our friends, who were all grinning as we came in. The confrontation with James had effectively killed the lustful mood, but I couldn't help noticing that Jasper was still frustrated with not having gotten his release. I decided that I could make it so much worse before the evening was over, and I could drag him to my home and bed.

As the veal passed my lips, I moaned slightly at the taste, and he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Great! So this was working. After I swallowed, I let my tongue graze my bottom lip like the taste was still there. Jasper whimpered slightly, soft enough to not be noticed by anyone other than me. By the time my plate was empty, there were tiny beads of sweat on his forehead, and I smirked to myself.

Leah had prepared a Tiramisu for dessert, and while she was in the kitchen to ready it for serving, I was making easy conversation with the others. Jasper wasn't paying any attention to us. Well, not to them anyway, I was fairly sure he had all his attention directed towards me. To be precise, his attention was directed towards the hand I had on his inner thigh, gently rubbing closer and closer to his cock.

He was trying to keep his eyes on whomever was talking, but I could see them being unfocused, clouded by want and need. I leaned my free elbow on the table and answered a question Vicky asked me about my work with a funny anecdote.

When Leah came back, I kept rubbing and ate one-handed. Jasper, on the other hand, was clutching his spoon for dear life, and more shoving his dessert around the plate than eating it. Obviously Leah, who was very eager to learn what the chef thought about her cooking, noticed.

"Jasper?" she asked in a timid voice. "That bad, huh?"

Jasper shot up straight and glanced at the poor woman. "W-what?" he stumbled, and quickly looked up into my eyes with a questioning look.

"The Tiramisu," Leah said. "You don't seem to be enjoying it all that much."

He cleared his throat and shifted in his seat and tried to push my hand away. I didn't relent, and moved my hand closer to his obvious erection. "No," he squeaked, probably both at me as well as Leah. "That's not it."

Leah cocked an eyebrow at him, and his face flushed, making me chuckle. I was very curious to find out how he would explain this one away. But instead of stumbling through an apology like I expected him to, he surprised me when he shot me an evil grin.

"I'm having trouble eating your wonderful dessert because of Edward," he said, and raised his voice a little when he continued; "He's had his hand rubbing me under the table for the past hour or so, and it's making it extremely hard to concentrate on anything else. So blame him if you wish, because I sure as hell will. And if you would excuse us, I'll have him take me home now, where I'll make sure he never _ever_ tortures me like this _ever_ again!"

I could feel the heat rise up to my ears as the entire table glared at me. _Fucking cheek!_ Yup, he had me/ Guess he decided that if _he_ was going down, he'd be taking me with him. Truthfully, it was one of the things I really truly loved about him, and I smirked at him as I got up from my seat.

"Edward, don't forget!" James said to me, making me turn around to face him in confusion. "Anti-Christmas? The day after tomorrow?" he asked.

I glanced over my shoulder to an eagerly waiting Jasper, and grinned when I turned back to James. "Fuck, no," I answered him. "I think I have other plans."

I opened the door and let my other plans walk out before I quickly followed him. I unlocked my bicycle and winked at the gorgeous guy eyeing my means of transportation with doubtful suspicion.

"Well, hop on!" I smiled at him. "Your steed awaits!"

He sat down on the baggage carrier and wrapped his strong arms around my waist. "You know what?" he asked, and I slightly turned my head, indicating I was listening as I cycled us back to my place.

"At least now you have a reason to enjoy Christmas," he continued, ignoring my shaking head. "It'll be our anniversary."

I chuckled, panting a little as I had to paddle hard, cycling our combined weights uphill. "You know, I don't really do anniversaries!"

**Author's Note:**

> I'd like it if you let me know what you think!


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